Imperial Japanese Army and that reduced too many Japanese attacks to unsupported all-infantry assaults that were brutally smashed with overwhelming defensive firepower, reversing the early Japanese Army experience in China Standard Japanese infantry weapons included the “Arisaka” M-38 rifle, which came in a 6.5 mm sniper version It was an older model and overly heavy Infantry were also issued the usual assortment of mines, grenades, and small mortars These weapons were highly valued and emphasized in Japanese close combat doctrine Emphasis was also placed on fighting with bayonets This standard Army infantry weapon—a wicked blade nearly 16” long—added weight to an already heavy rifle But it proved effective during infi ltration night attacks, a Japanese Army specialty never matched by Western troops, and was physically and psychologically intimidating by advance reputation Carbines with folding bayonets were issued late in the war to some Japanese troops Infantry companies were issued 6.5 mm and 7.7 mm “Nambu” machine guns Officers also carried swords, which they sometimes used in combat and at other times to behead prisoners Enemy troops particularly valued Japanese officer swords as war trophies Japanese soldiers conscripted from the countryside had a more favorable attitude toward Army life than many urban conscripts—about 80 percent of Japanese Army recruits came from fishing or farming communities All received basic training that included the usual physical exercise and weapons learning Physical fitness was given a premium but independent thinking was discouraged, as was normal in basic units in most armies (though not in the Wehrmacht) In addition, Japanese recruits were trained in traditional virtues and skills of the national infantry tradition dating to Meiji times, notably in small group surprise and night infi ltration attacks Japanese rankers were inculcated with a less-refined version of the officer cult of emperor devotion that placed a premium on blind obedience This devotion was explicitly spelled out in Army field guides, which built on ideological foundations of military life encouraged in the school system and national press Discipline was harsh For instance, it was common practice for soldiers to be slapped across the face by officers for the most minor infraction It was not unknown for Japanese officers to also kick, beat, or whip their men General George S Patton might have been justly astonished at those facts, had he served in the Pacific Regular brutality toward their own men by Japanese officers was passed down the line, to become routine ill-treatment of prisoners and civilians by drunken and often riotous troops Even so, infractions of military law and rank indiscipline within the Japanese Army increased with each successive year of a corrosive war in China, then with more suffering and defeat across the Pacific and in Southeast Asia Indiscipline and violence against non-Japanese was almost never punished, a fact that reinforced hard treatment and conduced to repeated atrocity However, explaining the frequent barbaric behavior of Japanese troops remains most difficult Abuse of civilians and prisoners of war was routine, but at times exploded into murderous frenzies that nearly defy understanding Atrocities were probably facilitated by a national education and propaganda system that inculcated feelings of racial superiority in the lowliest Japanese Beastly acts were also almost always carried out while drunk But rage was not just a problem of rear areas, 555